1016 lines
28 KiB
Plaintext
1016 lines
28 KiB
Plaintext
| ROVAC ZMAGAZINE |
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| Issue #152 |
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| April 11, 1989 |
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|Copyright 1989, RII|
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|This week in ZMagazine|
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Editor's Monitor
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Harold Brewer
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World of Atari Update
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Diamond OS Super Cartridge
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Joe Lovett
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Computer Software Services
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Bob Puff
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Machine Language Strings
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Dennis Pitman
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Z*Net Newswire 8-bit Edition
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Harold Brewer
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|EDITOR'S MONITOR|
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|by Harold Brewer|
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April seems to be the start of the
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computer show season. This month,
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ZMagazine associate John Nagy will be
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covering both Comdex (happening now)
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and World of Atari.
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After reading the CSS press release
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(found in this issue of ZMagazine) I
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have to say that the word -excited-
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almost covered my reaction. Please
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give it a look-see and perhaps post
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your feelings.
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Have fun with your 8-bit Atari--I know
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I certainly do!
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|WORLD OF ATARI UPDATE|
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Reprinted from ST-ZMagazine #15
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|-Press Release-|
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April 22, 1989 at 7:30 p.m. at the
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Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim California,
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ST-WORLD/World Of Atari Show in
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association with Keyboard Magazine,
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STart Magazine, and KWAI America
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present:
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-Beyond The Threshold-, a musical tour
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of today's new technology, hosted
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by Mike Pender of the Moody Blues with
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special guest Mic Fleetwood of
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Fleetwood Mac. Starring Jake Flader
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from the fusion group MAZE,
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James Lee Stanely with a section from
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his highly acclaimed new album
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-Simpatico-, John Black formerly of the
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GAP Band, Marc Ritler and
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Greg Welchel from the Pointer Sisters
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Band, Chris Many and Gregg Levin will
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do a song from their new album
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-Too Close To The Sun-. Additional
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groups will be named later.
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Additional concert highlights include a
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special demo of the Atari/HOTZ
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MIDI keyboard by Mic Fleetwood and
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Jimmy Hotz. A rare classical piece
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will be performed by Joseph Zawinul
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from the group Weather Report.
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The concert will take place in a 16,000
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square foot hall with a capacity of
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1000 seats. Admission price is $5.00,
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some free tickets will be made
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available thru some of the paid
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exhibitors.
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|SHOW UPDATE|
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Here is a weekly update to the Anaheim
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WOA Show.
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The following developers will be
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showing NEW products at this show.
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Atari, along with the Comdex products
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will be on hand with other Atari
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related products such as the PS-3000,
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the monitor with disk drive attached
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on sale for $349.00. The New JVC made
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SC1224 will also be on sale for
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$299.00.
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Seymor/Radix will be showing the
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DVT-VCR Hard Drive backup system. This
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product will plug in directly to the ST
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cartridge port and supply RCA jack
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output for direct connect to your VCR.
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Storage of up to 360Meg on any store
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bought VCR tape. Transfer rates are
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well over 8Meg per minute.
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Artison Software will be showing Graph
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Maker.
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Michtron will be demoing Fleet Street
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Publisher which is exclusively
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compatible with drivers from Imagen.
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Fleet Street is the only DTP package
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that works.
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Technovision will be showing -DaVinci-
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a new graphics editor.
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Gribnif with NeoDesk 2.3 and updating
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at the show. Stay tuned for more
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details. This is just a rumor.
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Bill Skurski Enterprises on hand with
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Video ST Tutor and selling
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-Beginners Guide To The ST-.
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Moniterm with their new controller
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board that will be compatible with old
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and new version of TOS for the new
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19 inch monitor output.
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Robust Software will be showing
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Edit-ST. This is a full gem based text
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editor with programmable keys, full
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mouse configuration, ability to
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transpose to all languages like C,
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Pascal, fortran and more. Price is set
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at $59.95
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Gadgets By Small debuting Spectre GCR.
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Avante Gard debuting PC-Ditto II.
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Magnetic Images showing -Gold Of The
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Realm-
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Reeve Software showing ST Jr in
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cartridge with applications software.
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Stay tuned to ST*ZMAG next week for a
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full listing of all developers and
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vendors.
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|DIAMOND OS SUPER CARTRIDGE|
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|by Joe Lovett|
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Miami Valley Atari Computer Enthusiasts
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The DIAMOND OS Super Cartridge is a new
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cartridge based GOS (Graphic Operating
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System) for the ATARI 8-bit computers.
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It provides a GOS similar to what you
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get with the ATARI ST. This OS allows
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you to manipulate files and disks using
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a mouse pointer.
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Before I go on, I should explain what a
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Graphic Operating System is. If you
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have seen an ATARI ST, AMIGA or MAC,
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you have seen a screen with a line of
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words at the top such as desk, file,
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disk, etc. On the rest of the screen
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are a variety of objects ranging from
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graphics of disk drives to a trash can.
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You have also probably seen someone
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moving a device known as a mouse (why,
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I don't know) around on a table with
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the effect of moving a small arrow on
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the screen.
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The line of words at the top of the
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screen is the menu bar for drop down
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menus, the objects on the screen are
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icons, and the little arrow is known as
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the mouse pointer. By moving the mouse
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pointer to icons and/or the menu bar
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and menus, one can obtain a disk
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directory and manipulate files just as
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one can from any DOS. The only
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difference is, it's easier. No more
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typing in file names, or trying to
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remember file name spellings.
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Diamond is set up to work with DOS XE
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or DOS 2.x, but it may be re-configured
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to work with most any DOS. In
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addition, it allows the use of a wide
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variety of input devices (keyboard,
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joystick, ST mouse, Koala pad, etc.).
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However, I have found that the ST mouse
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works best.
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My Diamond cartridge came two days
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after I had gotten my SpartaDOS X
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cartridge and I started out by trying
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to use them together. Unfortunately,
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it took me a whole day to get this to
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work. The Diamond manual failed to
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inform the user that you must write a
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special CONFIG.SYS file. It also
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failed to note that the SDX cartridge
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must be called from the file
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DIAMOND.SDX. Once I figured this out,
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things became somewhat better.
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I moved the mouse pointer over the one
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disk drive and pushed the button twice
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(this is known as double clicking). In
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the center of the screen a
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window-shaped box (called a window,
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believe it or not) appeared and filled
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up with a disk directory. Around the
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perimeter of the window are small icons
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which allow you to scroll through the
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disk directory, increase or decrease
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the size of the window, close the
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window, or cause the window to use the
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full screen and thereby give a full
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directory including time and date
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stamps. By putting the pointer on the
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title at the top of the window and
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holding the button down I could -drag-
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the window to any place on the screen.
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By moving the pointer over a file name
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and holding down the button I could
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then manipulate that file in a variety
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of ways. I could drag it to a second
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window opened on another directory and
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copy it to that directory. Also, I
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could drag it to another disk drive
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icon and copy the file to that drive.
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In addition, I could drag the file to
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the trash can and file it in the
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circular file.
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This all brings a rather nice feature
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of Diamond: it supports many of the
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features of SpartaDOS X and DOS XE.
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These include Time/Date stamping and
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subdirectory support. By double
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clicking on a directory name in the
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files window I could get a listing of
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what is in that directory. Diamond
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also allows the user to create new
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subdirectories and to copy files to
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them. Diamond will also call the ICD
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disk formatter if you are using
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SpartaDOS X.
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By placing the pointer over a file and
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double clicking I should be able to
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load that file. Unfortunately, I have
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been having some trouble doing this as
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there seem to be some incompatabilities
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between SpartaDOS X and Diamond. I
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have been in contact with Alan Reeve,
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and he has just recently obtained a
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SpartaDOS X cartridge. He informed me
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that he will be looking into these
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problems and will get back to me
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shortly. I will pass along any new
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information on this as soon as I get
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it.
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By moving the pointer along the menu
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bar I could select the various
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functions by clicking on them. The
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first menu, titled -Desk- holds two
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items. The first, -Info-, will place a
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short message on the screen about what
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program you are using (in this case
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Diamond). The second, -Reboot-, will
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do just that, except with SpartaDOS X.
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It seems that Diamond just does not
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want to recognize the SpartaDOS X
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cartridge sometimes. You can have
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other choices under the Desk heading
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such as a calculator, and these may be
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available soon. These -Desk
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Accesories- as they are called are
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usually very short and are loaded when
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you start up Diamond.
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The next choice on the menu bar is
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-File-. The first option under this
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choice -Open- allows you to open a disk
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directory (also accomplished by double
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clicking on a drive icon). The second
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choice -Status- will let you rename a
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file and/or change whether it is
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protected or not. The next choice
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-Duplicate- permits you to duplicate a
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file. This choice is necessary if you
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wish to copy a file and have only one
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disk drive. The fourth option is -New
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Folder-. This option allows the
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creation of a new folder or
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subdirectory. Finally, the last option
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-Close- allows a directory window to be
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closed. Below the -Close- option is a
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sixth choice printed below a line.
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This choice, -Quit- lets you quit to
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BASIC. You can then return to Diamond
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from BASIC by typing DOS.
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The third heading in the Menu Bar is
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-Disk-. The choices under this heading
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are -Format- and -Copy-. The -Format-
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option is self-explanatory, and it will
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call the ICD disk formatter from
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SpartaDOS X. The -Copy- choice will
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copy an single density disk. Not a
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very useful choice since most people
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are using either dual or double
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density.
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Finally, the last heading is Options.
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The options under this heading allow
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you to change how directories are
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displayed, whether or not Diamond gives
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you a warning before you perform some
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operations, and permits you to install
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more disk drives into the system. In
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addition, there is a -Save Desktop-
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choice which will allow you to save
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these configurations along with your
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placement of icons on the screen.
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The Diamond cartridge comes with a
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programmer's manual which can allow you
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to create applications which work with
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Diamond. Unfortunately, I can make
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neither heads nor tails of it. Reeve
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software is going to be coming out with
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several application programs that will
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make use of the Diamond environment.
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These include a paint program, a word
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processor, and a desk-top publisher,
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among others.
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One problem with Diamond has been
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support. I have had a lot of trouble
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getting in touch with and getting
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answers from Reeve Software. I
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originally got Diamond on the disk
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version, and then when the cartridge
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came out, the registered disk users
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were supposed to be sent upgrade
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information. I never was. I called
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Reeve Software, and tried to contact
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Alan Reeve on CompuServe. It took
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about 2 months of this to finally get
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the cartridge. Since then, I have been
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trying to get information about the
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problems I have been having with
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SpartaDOS X. It was not until
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recently, when I got in touch with
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Alan Reeve that I started to find out
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some things.
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In addition, it seems that Reeve
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Software has been having some trouble
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with keeping up with demand. This
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seems to be related to the supply of
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the cartridge cases which are made by
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ICD. As ICD also uses these cases for
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SpartaDOS X, which has been an
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extremely popular product, this
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shortage could last a while.
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For the most part, Diamond is a very
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useful piece of software.
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Unfortunately, it does seem to have
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some problems, most notably with
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SpartaDOS X. Occasionally, when doing
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some operations, Diamond will lock up
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and some functions will cease to
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operate properly. Because of this, for
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most DOS applications, I have found the
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SpartaDOS X menu function to be more
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useful. As soon as these bugs are
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ironed out, Diamond will be much more
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useful to me and other SpartaDOS X
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users.
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| Reeve Software |
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|20W150 Old Farm Lane |
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|Warrenville, IL 60555|
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| 312-393-2317 |
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|COMPUTER SOFTWARE SERVICES|
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|By Bob Puff|
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|New Products|
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> The Black Box <
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The Black Box is a device for your XL
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or 130XE computer that adds tremendous
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power to your 8-bit Atari. It has two
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buttons, two switches, and a set of dip
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switches visible from the outside. It
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plugs directly into the back of the
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600XL, 800XL, and 130XE computers.
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There will be conversion kits made
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available for the 65XE and XE Game
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system units.
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The Black Box performs three main
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tasks: interface to a SASI/SCSI bus
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device (hard disks), Parallel printer
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port, and a RS232 port. A fourth
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option, available soon, will be a
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floppy disk port, especially useful to
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XF-551 owners.
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> The SASI/SCSI port provides the
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necessary signals for hooking up most
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common hard disks. You may partition
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your hard disk into as many drives as
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you wish; up to 9 can be accessed at a
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time. By pressing one of the buttons
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on the Black Box, you will enter the
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configuration menu, where you can
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re-assign drive numbers, etc. When you
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exit, you will be right back in the
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program you were running when the
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switch was pressed: the Black Box does
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not disturb anything! You may
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partition up to 48 megabytes per drive
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(for a total of 432 megs!), as the
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Black Box can handle 3 byte sector
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numbers (a special version of MYDOS
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will be provided that supports this
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feature). Imbedded drives (drives with
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built-in controllers) that use 512 byte
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sectors will present no problems. You
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can write-protect all hard disks with
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the flip of one of the switches on the
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Black Box!
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> The Parallel printer port will allow
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you to hook up any printer that uses
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the standard Centronics interface.
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As an option, you can use the
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computer's extra memory as a printer
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buffer, or order the Black Box with 64K
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of on-board RAM. You may assign
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printer number and line-feed options
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within the menu (for use with multiple
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printers). Another amazing feature of
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the Black Box is the built-in screen
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dump. By pressing a button (on the
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box), the contents of your screen will
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be dumped to your printer (you can
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define text or graphics modes with a
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switch)!
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> The RS-232 port supplies the full
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RS232 specification signals for
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connection to a modem or another
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machine (for null-modeming). The
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handler for the Black Box's modem port
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is built-in and takes up NO memory!
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The port handles rates up to TRUE 19.2K
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BAUD!
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> A future upgrade for the Black Box
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is a floppy disk interface board. This
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will allow the addition of up to four
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5.25- or 3.5- mixtures of floppy drives
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to be used with the system. The drives
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will act like standard
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single/enhanced/double density disk
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drives, but up to 10 times faster! All
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drives will be Super Archiver
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compatible, and support up to 2 sides
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of 80 tracks. Along with this hardware
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upgrade will come software capable of
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reading, writing, and formatting disks
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in IBM's MS-DOS format and the Atari ST
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format, and allow you to transfer files
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between those disk formats and the
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Atari's format. (Please note this will
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NOT allow you to run IBM or ST programs
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on your 8-bit, but will allow you to
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use text files, created on one machine,
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on another.)
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The projected release date for the
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Black Box is the Summer of '89. The
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Floppy interface card will be available
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by the Fall of '89. The price of the
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Black Box will be $169.95 for the basic
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unit, and $199.95 with 64K of RAM (for
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the printer spooler). The price of the
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Floppy interface card has not yet been
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determined.
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> The Multiplexer <
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The Multiplexer system allows you to
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network up to 8 Atari 8-bits together
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with 1 -master- computer, allowing the
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-slave- computers to share common
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drives (hard disk or floppy), and a
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common printer. Into each slave
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computer goes a unit that plugs into
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the cartridge slot of your 8-bit
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computer (400/800, XL/XE). A single
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cable runs from the master unit to all
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slaves. All operation between the
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master and slave is done through this
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parallel bus, at blinding speeds. A
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special operating system gives each
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slave computer the ability to get data
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from the master, from a drive connected
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-local- to the slave, or from another
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slave. You can transfer programs
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between slaves without having to access
|
|
a drive!
|
|
|
|
> One example of how this is used is
|
|
in a multi-user BBS. One such BBS will
|
|
be available in the future, custom
|
|
designed for the Multiplexer. But the
|
|
software provided gives examples so you
|
|
can write your own programs to utilize
|
|
the Multiplexer to its fullest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
> Other Future Products <
|
|
|
|
Cartridge Port Extender: Relieve the
|
|
frustration of the new stackable
|
|
cartridges! Now you can put them where
|
|
YOU want them.
|
|
|
|
EPROM Programmer: Burn all 2732 thru
|
|
27512 PROMs/EPROMs VERY quickly! A
|
|
2732 can be burned, and verified twice
|
|
in less than 12 seconds! Full
|
|
read/program/verify functions, and full
|
|
support of lower voltage PROMS.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|MACHINE LANGUAGE STRINGS|
|
|
|
|
>Programming for the 8-bit Atari<
|
|
|
|
|by Dennis Pitman|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miami Valley Atari Computer Enthusiasts
|
|
|
|
|
|
The most common way to use a machine
|
|
language subroutine in a BASIC program
|
|
is to convert the object code into
|
|
decimal numbers, put the numbers into
|
|
DATA statements, then READ the numbers
|
|
and POKE them into memory.
|
|
|
|
This technique has been used for a long
|
|
time, in fact it is still being used
|
|
today. However, if you'd like your
|
|
programs to initialize faster, or if
|
|
you're using up too much memory,
|
|
there's a better technique you should
|
|
consider: converting the machine
|
|
language into strings. Using string
|
|
assignment statements instead of DATA
|
|
statements will not only save time
|
|
required to POKE the numbers into
|
|
memory, it consumes only about
|
|
one-third as much RAM. There is,
|
|
however, one main limitation of this
|
|
technique: the machine language routine
|
|
must be completely relocatable, which
|
|
is not too hateful for short (under
|
|
256-byte) routines.
|
|
|
|
The listing, after this article, is a
|
|
clever utility program that converts a
|
|
machine language subroutine into the
|
|
fast-executing BASIC string statements
|
|
and stores them on disk for later use.
|
|
This program, -ML STRING CREATOR-,
|
|
requires a mere 16K of RAM.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|Execution From A String|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The string technique works because,
|
|
essentially, these statements are
|
|
equivalent:
|
|
|
|
10 DATA 33,37,106,47,122,65
|
|
20 A$=-%j/zA-
|
|
|
|
If the subroutine contains internal
|
|
JMPs (Jump to New Location) or JSRs
|
|
(Jump to New Location Saving Return
|
|
Address), which aren't relocatable, you
|
|
must use the conventional DATA
|
|
statement technique. When the ML is
|
|
relocatable, it is very possible to
|
|
execute the subroutine directly from
|
|
the string with this:
|
|
|
|
30 X-USR (ADR(A$)
|
|
|
|
The ADR() function will let you find
|
|
the beginning address of the string,
|
|
and therefore for your subroutine.
|
|
This assumes you have previously
|
|
encoded the ML into the string variable
|
|
A$ with ML STRING CREATOR.
|
|
|
|
The string assignment statement is
|
|
preferable when you're trying to
|
|
squeeze a few more bytes into a limited
|
|
memory. All ML bytes have a decimal
|
|
value in the range of 0-255.
|
|
Representing this in a decimal DATA
|
|
statement requires as many as 3 bytes,
|
|
plus a comma to separate the entries.
|
|
In a string assignment, each ML byte is
|
|
represented as a single character.
|
|
|
|
There are a few other limitations,
|
|
however. It is not possible to
|
|
represent the decimal values 155 or 34
|
|
inside quotes in a string assignment.
|
|
Value 155 represents a carriage return
|
|
or EOL marker that cannot be embedded
|
|
in the assignment statement, even as
|
|
part of an escape sequence. Value 34
|
|
represents the double-quote character
|
|
used as a delimiter in the assignment
|
|
statement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|PUTTING IT TOGETHER|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Keeping the limitations in mind, you
|
|
can use ML STRING CREATOR to locate an
|
|
ML subroutine somewhere in the memory,
|
|
turn it into one or more string
|
|
assignment statements, and LIST the
|
|
statements to your disk. The
|
|
responsibility is yours to initially
|
|
load the ML into the memory. If you're
|
|
using an assembler that lets you
|
|
switch to BASIC without erasing the
|
|
memory, you can assemble directly to
|
|
memory and load ML STRING CREATOR to
|
|
convert the object code into strings.
|
|
|
|
This program begins by requesting the
|
|
first and last memory addresses (in
|
|
decimal) of your routine, name of the
|
|
string variable to be created, and a
|
|
line number for the first string
|
|
assignment statement. A maximum of 80
|
|
bytes can be contained in a single
|
|
statement string, and the maximum ML
|
|
program length accommodated by the
|
|
program is 256 bytes.
|
|
|
|
The string variable name, however, is
|
|
limited to seven characters, including
|
|
the trailing $ symbol which must be
|
|
present. The line number for the first
|
|
string assignment statement must be
|
|
greater than 190, and the subsequent
|
|
lines are to be numbered in increments
|
|
of ten.
|
|
|
|
The ML STRING CREATOR is also
|
|
self-modifying: the string assignment
|
|
statements become a part of the
|
|
program. However, the part of the
|
|
program which is taking care of
|
|
business protects itself from
|
|
modification. This program may also be
|
|
used repeatedly without being reloaded,
|
|
but it will continue to grow in size.
|
|
|
|
The self-modification feature is also
|
|
used to produce a LIST statement in
|
|
line 150. In the listing below it
|
|
appears as a REM statement, but after
|
|
the string assignment statements are
|
|
created it will be modified.
|
|
|
|
ML STRING CREATOR will prompt you for
|
|
the filename of the disk file in which
|
|
it will store the assignment
|
|
statements. This filename and the
|
|
first and last statement numbers of the
|
|
created statements are concatenated
|
|
with 150 LIST, in addition to the
|
|
appropriate commas and double quotes,
|
|
to form a genuine LIST statement.
|
|
Before the program retires, it will
|
|
indicate the memory locations at which
|
|
a decimal value of either 155 or 34 was
|
|
encountered. The program will
|
|
substitute a value of zero in these
|
|
cases. Now, if there happens to be
|
|
more than ten occurrences of 34 or 155,
|
|
the program will stop with an error
|
|
message.
|
|
|
|
The technique used to create the
|
|
strings consists of printing string
|
|
assignment statements on a previously
|
|
cleared screen, just as you would do
|
|
from the keyboard if you were typing in
|
|
a BASIC program. After the last string
|
|
assignment statement is placed on the
|
|
screen, a CONT statement is written on
|
|
the screen in immediate mode (that is,
|
|
with no statement number).
|
|
|
|
Another feature of the program is the
|
|
automatic RETURN. The Atari has a
|
|
switch which makes pressing the RETURN
|
|
key optional. It is location 842,
|
|
which usually contains a 12.
|
|
POKE 842,13 switches to automatic
|
|
RETURN.
|
|
|
|
The processing takes place rapidly when
|
|
the computer presses RETURN, so be
|
|
prepared. The commands to be processed
|
|
must be both correct and in the right
|
|
place on the screen, and the cursor
|
|
must be positioned on or above the
|
|
first statement. In case an error is
|
|
detected, a message will be written on
|
|
the screen, but the Atari, using the
|
|
automatic RETURN, will process the
|
|
error message as a command and a syntax
|
|
error will result.
|
|
|
|
With a little imagination, you can
|
|
modify this program to accept other
|
|
forms of input of decimal or
|
|
hexadecimal values to be converted to
|
|
character strings, or to accept a ML
|
|
object file from disk.
|
|
|
|
If you are planning to adopt some of
|
|
these techniques to your own programs,
|
|
there are a few things to watch out
|
|
for. First, when placing the cursor at
|
|
the top of the screen prior to
|
|
activating the automatic RETURN, be
|
|
sure to allow sufficient room so the
|
|
screen text produced by the STOP
|
|
statement will not overwrite the
|
|
statements which your program placed on
|
|
the screen. Also be sure to turn off
|
|
the automatic RETURN (POKE 842,12) when
|
|
you're done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|ML STRING MAKER|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 REM ML STRING MAKER
|
|
2 REM Writes string assignment statements from up to 256 memory locations and LISTs them on disk.
|
|
10 DIM NAME$(10),RTN(11),RTN1(11)
|
|
20 ? CHR$(125);-ENTER--:? -START ADDRESS-;:INPUT FBA:? - END ADDRESS-;:INPUT LBA
|
|
25 ? - STRING NAME-;:INPUT NAME$:? -FIRST STATEMENT NUMBER-;:INPUT FSN:SN=FSN-10:I=LEN(NAME$)
|
|
30 IF LBA<FBA OR LBA-FBA>255 OR I<2 OR I>7 OR NAME$(I,I)<>-$- OR FSN<191 THEN? CHR$(253):GOTO 20
|
|
35 ? CHR$(125):? :DISP=-79:FBA=FBA-80
|
|
40 SN=SN+10:FBA=FBA+80:DISP=DISP+80:GHIJKLMNO IF FBA>LBA THEN GOTO 85
|
|
45 RANGE=79:IF LBA-FBA<79 THEN RANGE=LBA-FBA
|
|
50 ? SN;- -;NAME$;-(-;DISP;-)=-;CHR$(34);:FOR I=FBA TO FBA+RANGE:J=PEEK(I)
|
|
60 IF J=155 THEN J=0:K=K+1:RTN(K)=I:IF K=11 THEN 190
|
|
65 IF J=34 THEN J=0:L=L+1:RTN1(L)=I:IF L=11 THEN 190
|
|
70 ? -(ESC)-;CHR$(J);:NEXT I:? CHR$(34)
|
|
75 GOTO 40
|
|
85 ? -CONT-:POSITION 0,0
|
|
90 POKE 842,13:STOP
|
|
100 POKE 842,12
|
|
110 ? CHR$(125);-ENTER--:? - FILE NAME-;:INPUT NAME$
|
|
120 ? CHR$(125):? :? :? -150 LIST-;CHR$(34);-D:-;NAME$;CHR$(34);-,-;FSN;-,-;SN-10:? -CONT-:POSITION 0,0
|
|
130 POKE 842,13:STOP
|
|
140 POKE 842,12
|
|
145 ? CHR$(125);-LISTING -;NAME$
|
|
150 REM LIST statement will be inserted here.
|
|
160 ? CHR$(125):IF K>0 THEN?-Zero substituted for 155 @-:FOR I=1 TO K:? - -;RTN(I);:NEXT I
|
|
170 IF L>0 THEN? :? -Zero substituted for 34 @-:FOR I=1 TO L:? --;RTN1(I);:NEXT I
|
|
180 END
|
|
190 ? CHR$(125):? -TOO MANY 155s AND/OR 34s-:END
|
|
|
|
This program was written by Tom Sak and
|
|
received from Compute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|Z*NET NEWSWIRE 8-BIT EDITION|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|by Harold Brewer|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
While speaking with ICD's Howard
|
|
about a problem concerning SpartaDOS's
|
|
ability to deal with 21st century
|
|
dates, he informed me of a fix in the
|
|
restoration half of ICD's FlashBack!
|
|
(hard drive and Multi I/O backup
|
|
utility).
|
|
|
|
Howard said that both halves of
|
|
FlashBack! (backup and restoration)
|
|
are currently at version 2.3. Owners
|
|
of FlashBack! version 2.x can receive a
|
|
free upgrade just by sending in their
|
|
original FlashBack! disk along with
|
|
return postage to ICD, or by calling
|
|
ICD's BBS and leaving a pertinent
|
|
message to the SysOp to arrange for a
|
|
download of the upgrade. Owners of
|
|
earlier versions (1.x) would have to
|
|
comply with ICD's upgrade policy to
|
|
recieve the current version of
|
|
FlashBack! (send original disk and $10
|
|
to ICD).
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ICD, Inc. |
|
|
| 1220 Rock Street |
|
|
|Rockford, IL 61101|
|
|
|BBS: 815-968-2229|
|
|
| Attn: Howard |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-GEnie announces new prices
|
|
effective May 1, 1989.
|
|
|
|
-First, the prime-time rate for GEnie
|
|
will be reduced from $35.00 per hour to
|
|
$18.00 per hour for 300, 1200, and 2400
|
|
baud access speeds.
|
|
|
|
-Non-prime pricing will be
|
|
re-structured by access speed.
|
|
* 300 baud will remain the same at
|
|
$5.00 per hour.
|
|
* 1200 baud will increase from $5.00
|
|
to $6.00 per hour.
|
|
* 2400 baud will decrease from $12.50
|
|
to $10.00 per hour.
|
|
|
|
-In addition, the CB Club Fees will
|
|
change from $50.00 per month to $30.00
|
|
per month with a $3.00 per hour connect
|
|
fee. The CB Club still only applies to
|
|
U.S. users during non-prime hours. The
|
|
60 day waiting period for new GEnie
|
|
subscribers has been eliminated.
|
|
|
|
GEnie Rates Summary:
|
|
|
|
Speed Prime-time Non-prime
|
|
300 baud $ 18.00/hr. $ 5.00/hr.
|
|
1200 baud $ 18.00/hr. $ 6.00/hr.
|
|
2400 baud $ 18.00/hr. $ 10.00/hr.
|
|
|
|
CB Club* N/A $ 3.00/hr.
|
|
|
|
* (any speed, plus FX surcharges,
|
|
if any)
|
|
* plus $30/month CB Club
|
|
membership fee.
|
|
|
|
-FX surcharges will remain the same for
|
|
designated locations. Prime-time is
|
|
8AM to 6PM Mon-Fri local time.
|
|
Non-Prime time is 6PM to 8AM Mon-Fri
|
|
plus all-day on Saturdays, Sundays and
|
|
designated holidays.
|
|
|
|
-GEnie announces the following rates
|
|
effective May 1,1989 for Canada GEnie
|
|
users.
|
|
|
|
GEnie Rates Summary
|
|
(Amounts below are in Canadian Dollars)
|
|
|
|
Speed Prime-time Non-prime
|
|
300 baud $ 30.00/hr. $ 7.00/hr.
|
|
1200 baud $ 30.00/hr. $ 9.00/hr.
|
|
2400 baud $ 35.00/hr. $ 15.00/hr.
|
|
|
|
-The CB Club option is not available in
|
|
Canada and therefore Canada users are
|
|
not affected by the CB Club pricing
|
|
change.
|
|
|
|
-FX surcharges will remain the same for
|
|
designated locations. Prime-time is
|
|
8AM to 6PM Mon-Fri local time.
|
|
Non-Prime time is 6PM to 8AM Mon-Fri
|
|
plus all-day on Saturdays, Sundays and
|
|
designated holidays.-
|
|
|
|
This information is courtesy of GEnie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Rovac Industries, Incorporated |
|
|
| P.O. Box 74, Middlesex, NJ 08846 |
|
|
| (201) 968-8148 |
|
|
|Copyright 1989 All Rights Reserved|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CompuServe: 71777,2140
|
|
GEnie: ZMAGAZINE
|
|
Source: BDG793
|
|
|
|
ZMagazine Headquarters BBSes:
|
|
Centurian BBS--(314)621-5046
|
|
(618)451-0165
|
|
Chaos BBS--(517)371-1106
|
|
Shadow Haven--(916)962-2566
|
|
Stairway to Heaven--(216)784-0574
|
|
The Pub--(716)826-5733
|